Preakness 2016 Post Time: Important Start Time and Lineup Info

The horse racing world is in a post-Triple Crown haze. This year's Kentucky Derby was down 12.5 percent in the ratings despite a deep field featuring an undefeated Nyquist. For all the discussion about how badly the sport needed a Triple Crown winner, there's a sense that no one knows what to do now that one's happened.

A possible solution: What about another Triple Crown winner?

Nyquist will look to make that happen Saturday, as he tries to extend his career winning streak to nine at the Preakness Stakes. The second of the three Triple Crown races is largely seen as the easier of the remaining two for the Kentucky Derby winner. At 1 3/16 miles, the Preakness is actually slightly shorter than the Derby; the Belmont comes in at a daunting mile-and-a-half.

Preakness Date	Preakness Post Time	Preakness Field Set/Post Draw
Saturday, May 21	6:45 p.m. ET	Wednesday, May 18

Three of the last four Kentucky Derby winners have gone on to take the Preakness. Last year, it was American Pharoah pulling away on his way to becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. As of publication, Nyquist is a 5-7 favorite to take home the second leg, per Odds Shark. The only other horse at better than 10-1 odds is Exaggerator, who came within 1 1/2 lengths of Nyquist at Churchill Downs.

"I would have thought he was sick of us by now," owner Paul Reddam said of Exaggerator's trainer, per Dick Jerardi of Philly.com. "No, his horse obviously ran great. And he was the closest threat. And, if I were him, I would want a rematch, too. The horses are not machines, so it will be a great race."

As noted by Jerardi, it appears Nyquist will only face nine other horses Saturday. That's less than half of what he saw at the full 20-horse Derby field, which makes the odds even better in his favor. Exaggerator has tried and failed on four different occasions to take down Nyquist. The odds of him finding a way to do it in a fifth try seem unlikely.

Perhaps the horse with the best chance is Stradivari, a lightly raced colt that wasn't in the Derby field. Odds Shark lists Stradivari at 12-1, making him the third favorite in the race overall. The Todd Pletcher-trained horse has raced three times, with two wins. His last win was at Keeneland on April 17 and by 14 1/2 lengths.

Pletcher is pleased with Stradivari's form, per BloodHorse.com:

"

He's a horse that we've thought a lot of for quite a while, so it was sort of in the back of our minds leading up to the allowance race that hopefully bigger things were to come. We were expecting a good effort but that even exceeded our expectations. Once he did that and came out of it well the Preakness became a consideration.

"

Uncle Lino and Collected are also expected to enter the field after sitting out the Derby, but neither is considered a top contender. Uncle Lino comes off as a 33-1 underdog, while Collected sits at 25-1. Collected has Bob Baffert in his corner, and Uncle Lino took the California Chrome Stakes—there's just not enough momentum on either side to predict an upset.

So, in essence, it'll come down to what Nyquist has in the tank. This is the shortest-ever distance between races for the colt, so the Triple Crown's test of endurance will start playing a factor here. He's already bested most of the field on multiple occasions and has only one real other contender worth watching. As long as he gets out of the gate strong, the small field at the Preakness should only work to his advantage.

Things may change once the field beefs up again at the Belmont. For now, though, it's hard to expect anything other than a Nyquist romp.